Tapu Bulu (1/2) Written

[Matame]

[OVERVIEW]
Tapu Bulu is an immensley strong physical attacker thanks to its ability Grassy Surge, which summons Grassy Terrain. This gives 1.5x power to Grass moves, making its 120 BP STAB attack wood hammer hit insanely hard. It also gives +1/16 of HP each turn to grounded Pokemon, while also halving the damage taken from Earthquake. Unfortunately Bulu possesses a middling speed tier and normally requires speed control to be able to fully preform. It also has poor coverage, including a lack of a good physical Fairy STAB move and, as a result, gets walled by a lot of grasses, fires, dragons and steels. This is somewhat remedied with its raw power still doing a hefty amount to resists. Bulu additionally posseses decent bulk in 70/115/95, which makes it physically bulky yet somewhat specially frail. On top of this its Grass/Fairy typing is somewhat mediocre, netting weaknesses to common Ice, Fire, Flying and steel moves on top of a 4x weakness to poison. On the flip side this typing also grants it resistances to Dark, Dragon, Ground and Water, the latter making it a solid rain check. Overall an average Pokemon that, while difficult to switch into its STAB Terrain boosted Wood hammers, is held back by its middling speed tier and coverage.

[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Wood Hammer
move 2: Superpower
move 3: Taunt/Stone Edge
move 4: Protect
item: Life Orb/Grassium Z
ability: Grassy Surge
nature: Adamant
evs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Wood hammer is it's strongest STAB, boosted by its own Grassy Terrain, and does a huge amount to everything that doesn't resist it, while also taking huge recoil including Life Orb damage making it easy to wear yourself down. Superpower helps it hit things that 4x resist its STAB such as Ferrothorn and Heatran, while avoiding recoil to super effective threats such as Kangaskan. Taunt aids it in preventing Trick Room and set up Pokemon. Stone Edge is an alternative to hit Charizard, Mence, Zapdos and other rock weak Pokemon for super effective damage. Horn Leech is another alternative that gives Bulu a strong STAB that heals it instead of letting it take a lot of recoil. Protect is essential on most Pokemon in doubles to help gain and maintain field momentum,

Set Details
========

Life Orb increases Tapu Bulu's damage output while in turn wearing it down with chip damage. Grassium Z gives Tapu Bulu a 190Bp Grassy Terrain boosted STAB which will deal insane damage even to its resists, while also avoiding recoil. The Ev spread lets you outspeed 252 neutral base 70's with the rest is in Attack and HP. Minspeed Brave is another option for Trick room teams to minimize your speed.

Usage Tips
========

Tapu Bulu's main selling point is its ability to hit insanely hard with Grass STAB and to make sure you and your partner take very little from Earthquakes with the help of Grass Surge. It works as a good switch in due to its natural bulk and good resists, where it can also switch in on Lando and other Earthquake users to let a Ground weak partner take less damage. Force it into positions where it can freely fire off powerful Wood Hammers that deal a hefty chunk to even its resists. Lead it versus slower teams to help take advantage of it going first and tear apart their team with STAB Wood Hammers. Grassium Z is best activated on an opponent that would normally survive its Wood Hammer and instead OHKO it while also taking no recoil.

Team Options
========

Fire Types, such as Heatran, Volcanion and Rotom-heat that care of steels are great partners for Bulu, as they also appreciate it's ability to tank Ground and Water moves. Ground types, such as Landorus-Therian, can help take on Fires and Steels, but however do not appreciate the weakened Earthquake where a special set with Earth Power might be more appropriate. Waters, such as Milotic and Gastrodon, can easily switch in on most Fires and threaten them in return with Water STAB. Speed control. such as Tailwind (Zapdos, Suicune, Latios), Icy Wind(Jirachi, Milotic) and Trick Room (Porygon2, Cresselia, Oranguru) can ensure that Tapu Bulu is moving first and able it to use strong attacks freely.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Assault vest is a good alternative as it can be used to improve your underwhelming special bulk. However this involves you sacrificing protect, which prevents it from being able to defend itself. Choice Band hits much harder and makes Tapu Bulu even harder to switch into. However this also sacrifices its ability to use protect. Nature's Madness is a possible alternative for the thrid slot as it enables Tapu Bulu to deal half of the Target's HP to bulkier opponents that resist its coverage, such as Celesteela. Meadow Plate can be used as an alternative to still make sure its STAB attacks hit as strong as possible while avoiding the recoil. Sitrus Berry can be used for a short burst of health to improve its longevity. Occa Berry can be used to lure Fire types like Charizard and 0HKO them with stone edge.

Checks and Counters
===================


**Fire Types**: Fires such as Heatran and Charizard-Y can switch in on it's STAB attack and threaten it with Fire Stab. Heatran can also use this turn to set up a Substitute.

**Steel Types**: Steel Types such as Aegislash, Jirachi and Celesteela can also switch in on it's STAB attack and threaten it with STAB Steel moves.

**Flying Types**: Flying Types, such as Salamence and Zapdos, can switch in on it's STAB attack and in Mence's case hit it with Aerilate boosted Flying STAB or in Zapdos's case hit it with possible coverage such as Hidden Power Ice or Heat Wave.

**Poison Types**: Posion Types, such as Mega Gengar and Alolan Muk, can switch in on its STAB attacks and hit it with a 4x super effective STAB move.

New​

​

 

[nadando]

amcheck incoming

[OVERVIEW]

• i'd refer to bulu's speed tier as "middling," cause it's a bit more specific than "underwhelming," but that's just a bit pick really. however, i wouldn't say it requires heavy speed control cause it's not like a trick room mon or something, and it can at least soak up some hits and hit back.
• you should mention that it's rather frail on the special end of the spectrum
• also mention it's resistance to water, which makes it a solid check to rain

[SET]

• imo i would slash horn leech next to wood hammer. a set with two grass STABs seems redundant to me.
• i wouldn't mention that superpower hits jirachi for neutral damage, cause like so does a million other things in its movepool. instead, mention more benefits of superpower (i.e. hitting heatran, kang, and others super effectively)
• taunt seems like oo material to me, but someone from qc can address that
• you make no mention of stone edge either in the set or oo, imo it should be in the third slot, but again, i'll let qc handle that
• an ev spread of 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe let's you outspeed 252 neutral base 70's (i.e. bisharp). full speed investment doesn't seem necessary to me cause there aren't any relevant threats that it needs to tie with

[SET COMMENTS]

• you're going to need to edit this section if the set gets changed, so keep that in mind
• telepathy isn't even released as a HA so cut that part out
• you should mention it's a good switchin cause it has good resistances and p high physical defense

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]

• maybe add a tag in checks and counters for strong special attackers? idk

i wrote this up on my phone so please excuse any typos / disorganization. hope this helps!

EDIT: i could've sworn that grassy terrain blocks status, but it turns out i'm completely wrong. seems like i got my terrain effects mixed up lul.

 

[Pocket]

Wood Hammer should be left unslashed - it is mandatory for Bulu to net KOs. Stone Edge is a more important coverage move than Superpower imo, as it lets Bulu take out Charizard Y, Kyurem-B, Salamence, Marowak-A for SE damage.

If you're going max Speed, go Jolly. This would allow Bulu to be faster than Modest Heatran, Timid Volcanion, and Charizard Y/Kanga used in semi-room teams (iirc), and pick them out with the appropriate move. Otherwise, I would only put enough speed to outrun min Spe Rotom-W and may even take out some EVs from Attack to make it bulky. Honestly, you would be surprised how much of an overkill Adamant max Atk is against most threats.

Grassium Z should be considered over LO or Meadow Plate imo. 190 BP in Grassy Terrain doesn't care about resists... it does min 50% to Jirachi, Aegislash, and Metagross iirc and score some KOs on some bulkier neutral targets.

Swords Dance is worth an OO mention. It would be a good way to spend a turn when the opponent is trying to Protect-stall your Tailwind or Trick Room.

 

[Matame]

yadayada

Added some of this including the spread since its probably more optimal than 252 lul also added Stone edge as a slash and grassium z as OO

 

[Pocket]

I really think grassium z should be more than an OO. Ateast an AC mention in the set or preferably slashed on the move set

Oo mention
- Terrain Extender and the move Grassy Terrain to ensure that Bulu sustain its power boost
- AV and grass seed to buffer it's ordinary bulk. Leftovers and Sitrus for additional recovery from wood hammer recoil
- swords dance :|

 

[Idyll]

I really think grassium z should be more than an OO. Ateast an AC mention in the set or preferably slashed on the move set

Oo mention
- Terrain Extender and the move Grassy Terrain to ensure that Bulu sustain its power boost
- AV and grass seed to buffer it's ordinary bulk. Leftovers and Sitrus for additional recovery from wood hammer recoil
- swords dance :|

The things with these, save for AV and Sitrus, is that they're not even worth using and moreso not worth a mention in OO. Assault Vest is the only one which has some actual usable merit as it can let it take some special hits handily enough letting function as a strong "tank", but the set itself being quite janky to use especially with the lack of Protect. Sitrus, meanwhile, does what Sitrus does but it is only OO due to the item itself not being that essential to Bulu's attacking role.

Terrain Extender and Grassy Terrain aren't worth it as they waste valuable resources in a moveslot and item, respectively; when one uses these, they're losing out on something that's... actually useful, yknow? Making Grassy Terrain itself last longer isn't really a big deal as Tapu Bulu often wouldn't last that long on the field and making the healing effect last longer isn't that worth it compared to Tapu Bulu itself being more efficient in its role. Using Grassy Terrain is pretty much a waste of momentum and uses a slot for something more useful such as... a coverage move.

Grass Seed's isn't really that great; Tapu Bulu isn't really something that can effectively last long considering its low SDef and utilization of a recoil move in order to best do its job as an attacker. While the (one-time) Defense boost is nifty, it also doesn't need it considering it already has high-enough Defense.

Leftovers is not OO material as it's mostly outclassed by Sitrus as the burst healing is often more useful. Tapu Bulu isn't really a long-term thing and it'd rather have some 2HKOs turned into 3HKOs or have a cushion when it gets too much recoil.

SD isn't really effective on it as it's really too slow to effectively use it. While the thought of a +2 Tapu Bulu is definitely scary, the Pokemon itself can be taken down by any faster threat, of which there are a lot of due to its middling Speed tier. Often, setting up would be a waste of its time and it'd rather just attack what's in front of it, and it's already really strong in the first place.

***

On that note, AV and Sitrus itself are OO material, so Matame do add those. As for the set itself, use the following moveset:

Wood Hammer
Superpower
Taunt / Stone Edge
Protect

All of these should be explained of course. Keep the explanation of Horn Leech in Moves as it's a "usable but not slashable" thing. Meadow Plate is OO material and slash Grassium Z behind LO.

Since a resisted Grassy Terrain STAB-boosted Wood Hammer actually hits harder than a neutral Superpower, you should make explicitly say that Superpower is more for hitting stuff like x4 resists such as Heatran and Celesteela and avoiding recoil when hitting super effective targets such as Mega Kangaskhan.

Put Occa in OO too, that thing's neat for luring Fires and KOing with SEdge.

I'll look at this again with a check later.

 

[Matame]

implemented

 

[Matame]

ready for a check btw

 

[Idyll]

Overview: Put the "summation statement" as the very first bullet, explicitly say that it has ridiculous power

Moves

• mention that WH is boosted by its own Grassy Terrain.
• The second bullet is more appropriate in Usage Tips, for this section just add that Wood Hammer has recoil in its line.
• Don't say that Taunt is a "filler move" lol, just say what it does.
• Mention stuff like Zapdos instead of Marowak, it's not really that prominent.
• For Horn Leech, change "somewhere" to whatever you want to refer to the third moveslot

UT

This could be considerably be beefed up tbh. Right now, it's really barren and doesn't provide much content. You fail to really say what its role is, only what it needs to do. You don't really mention Grassy Terrain at all, about capitalizing its boosting or EQ-weakening or whatever. Put more thought into this.

TO

• Water-types aren't really that much of a check to non-Heatran Steels, so uh fix this statement.

OO

• uh, on CB just change whatever that's at the end to "prevents it from being able to defend itself" or something
• Nature's Madness isn't really for resisting switchins. On most cases, when expecting a switch in Wood Hammer is still the safer play. It's more generally useful for bulky stuff that resist a lot like Celesteela when they try to match it up.

CC

• Mention Zard instead of Rotom-H
• Add Celesteela, that resists a lot
• Zapdos doesn't typically carry Flying-type moves, rephrase

1/2

yes, you only need 2 chex for now o_o

 

[Matame]

implemented

 

[talkingtree]

Couple quick things for before/while you write up:

• When discussing Z-Wood Hammer/Bloom Doom, mention that it also negates the secondary effect of recoil
• Add a mention to minspeed Brave for TR teams in Set Details
• In Usage Tips, say something about when to activate Grassium Z, if carrying it
• Move AV to the top of OO and talk it up a little bit more
• Add a **Poison-type Pokemon** tag to OO, and convert your other tags to match that syntax

Go ahead and start writing, and let me know when you're done so that I can give this another look and a full check.

 

[talkingtree]

Any updates on progress here Matame?

 

[Matame]

Oh apologies I completely forgot this existed lol I'll get it finished by today as soon as I get home

 

[nadando]

Two little things I noticed the other day:

Mentioning Ground-types in TO is a bit awkward since Grassy Surge decreases the power of Earthquake and Earth Power. I'd edit the bullet or remove it entirely.

A Poison-type Pokemon tag should be added in CC since they OHKO Bulu and resist it's primary STAB. Some examples are Alolan Muk, Mega Gengar, and Mega Venusaur.

edit: Grassy Surge doesn't decrease the damage of EP whoops

 

[talkingtree]

I agree with both of those, for the Ground-types bullet point I'd just say to use caution when Grassy Terrain is set. It won't be in effect for the whole battle and Lando is definitely still a good partner.

 

[Matame]

Two little things I noticed the other day:

Mentioning Ground-types in TO is a bit awkward since Grassy Surge decreases the power of Earthquake and Earth Power. I'd edit the bullet or remove it entirely.

I agree with EQ but Grassy terrain doesn't effect ep lol i changed the way i worded it anyway

Couple quick things for before/while you write up:

• When discussing Z-Wood Hammer/Bloom Doom, mention that it also negates the secondary effect of recoil
• Add a mention to minspeed Brave for TR teams in Set Details
• In Usage Tips, say something about when to activate Grassium Z, if carrying it
• Move AV to the top of OO and talk it up a little bit more
• Add a **Poison-type Pokemon** tag to OO, and convert your other tags to match that syntax

Go ahead and start writing, and let me know when you're done so that I can give this another look and a full check.

implemented, by OO i just assumed you meant CC so i added the tag there

 

[nadando]

Overview

• Remove the third sentence entirely, it doesn't add anything to the analysis. If someone wants to know the effects of Grassy Terrain they'll go to Bulbapedia lol.

Moves

• Mention that Superpower lowers Bulu's Attack and Defense, so it should be used sparingly
• In the part about Stone Edge, remove the mention of Zapdos because the only time a coverage move should be used is if the target is 4x resistant to Grass, which Zapdos isn't
• Give specific examples of how Protect can be used (e.g. allowing an ally to take out a threatening opposing Pokemon, etc.)

Set Details

• Mention that Grassium Z is more inconsistent than Life Orb because it is one time use

Usage Tips

• Mention that you should avoid wasting Bloom Doom into a Protect

Checks and Counters

• Add an **Intimidate and Burns** tag, because Bulu is a physical attacker
• The other tags should appear as **x-type Pokemon**, e.g. **Fire-type Pokemon**, not "Fire Types"

This analysis is not ready for GP. It contains consistent errors in grammar, punctuation, and consistency which suggest a lack of care and effort on the part of the writer. You need to give it a solid read then fix it up. I'm not saying it has to be perfect, but right now it's just plain sloppy. Once you've made your corrections, tag me and I'll give you your final check.